Astros upset Yankees in season opener with help from Feldman, Fowler

The words “shock the world” came up Tuesday among the Astros, hours before first pitch. The first two innings of the 2014 season fit the bill.

A 6-2 win over the Yankees on opening day at Minute Maid Park was baseball’s version of role reversal. Sloppy fielding early made the Yankees look like the team that won 51 games last season.

“They came out swinging, so you have to give them credit,” retiring Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said on his final opening day. “It didn’t seem like they were nervous or anything or they had any butterflies.”

Astros newcomers such as Scott Feldman and Dexter Fowler made a huge difference. The Astros didn’t just eke out the win — they thoroughly outplayed the Yankees, who have a payroll roughly four times larger. Technically, the Astros snapped a 15-game losing streak, dating to last season.

Feldman went 62⁄3 innings and surrendered just two hits, while Yankees starter CC Sabathia allowed six runs in six innings.

“It’s exciting,” said Fowler, who doubled to Tal’s Hill in the Astros’ first at-bat of the season. “Especially the people that showed up. They came out, and it was loud. I hope it’s like that the whole year.”

The Astros were aggressive all night at the plate and on the bases, and they made great plays defensively throughout.

“That’s a tremendous job by that group in there,” manager Bo Porter said. “They were focused.”

The Yanks scored twice in the eighth inning, but offseason bullpen addition Chad Qualls escaped further trouble with a 5-4-3 double play from Alfonso Soriano.

Righty Matt Albers, who like Qualls is back for a second tour of duty in Houston, got the final three outs. A Houston native, Albers said he was hoping for the chance to pitch in the opener.

Defensive plays, including a running basket catch from Jose Altuve — and even a quick reaction from pitcher Kevin Chapman on a 30-foot dribbler with the bases loaded in the seventh — were just as important as the six runs the Astros scored over the first two innings.

“I thought our staff did a tremendous job of positioning,” Porter said. “I felt like we were in the right place all night.”

The top of the Astros lineup was reimagined this past winter, and Fowler and Altuve had two hits apiece through the first two frames.

The Astros had already finished scoring for the night when Sabathia lifted his arms in frustration in the second. Winning pitcher Feldman, who left to a standing ovation from a crowd of 42,117, didn’t allow a hit until the fourth.

“We’ve got a young team, and that’s our game,” Fowler said. “We’re going to put the pressure on the defense any way we can.”

Working both sides of the plate, Feldman didn’t run into real trouble until the seventh, when he was pulled for the lefty Chapman with the bases loaded. As he walked off, Feldman pointed in the direction of former President George H.W. Bush, who was seated next to the dugout.

Feldman stuck around in the dugout to see the win finished.

“It seemed like today was the longest day of my life,” Feldman said. “Hanging around at the house, I just wanted to get here and get the game going. But once I got out there, it felt pretty normal.”

Never overpowering, Feldman sat around 88-89 mph. He did crack 90 mph and finished with two walks and three strikeouts on 102 pitches.

The Astros jumped on a slimmed-down Sabathia immediately with a four-run first inning.

Fowler’s first at-bat as the Astros’ center fielder and leadoff man went about 400 feet to center. Altuve punched Fowler in two batters later, and that’s when the Yankees started to throw it around.

Altuve stole second and took third when the ball got away from catcher Brian McCann. McCann’s off-the-mark throw to third nearly gave Altuve an opportunity to run home.

On the next play, Altuve broke for home immediately on a Jason Castro grounder, and Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira had no chance to get the speedy Altuve, whose run put the Astros up 2-0.

Then came the big blast came from one of the new Astros who’s flown under the radar.

Jesus Guzman, the platoon first baseman who will start against lefthanders, ripped a two-run homer to left field to make it 4-0.

“The only thing you have to do is try to hit the ball hard,” Guzman, acquired in a December trade with the Padres, said before the game. “And if you hit the ball hard, then you’re going to go somewhere no matter what.”

The offense kept rolling in the bottom of the second, when L.J. Hoes hit a solo homer to left off Sabathia and Altuve drove in another run.

For a day, Astros old and new worked perfectly together.

“(General manager) Jeff Luhnow brought a lot of us here together,” Hoes said. “Now it’s just growing and developing and developing into major league baseball players.”